Structural Parameters, Bioenergetic Strategies, and Biomass Turnover of a Population of Deer Mice, Peromyscus Maniculatus, in West-Central Kansas

Structural ecological parameters of a population of Peromyscus maniculatus were investigated following a four year live-trap study conducted on a remnant mixed prairie in west - central Kansas. Deer mice had a non-random distribution on the study area, and preferred habitats dominated by Andropopon gerardi, A. scoparius, and Bouteloua curtipendula; they specifically avoided a weedy community dominated by Helianthus annuus and Kochia scoparia. The lowest crude densities (1.8/ha) were recorded in spring of 1968, and the highest (17.7) occurred in autumn of 1966. Ecological densities ranged from spring and summer lows (4.0/ha) in the weedy community to autumn highs (19.3/ha) in the A. gerardi habitat. Over the four years, the population invariably peaked in mid-autumn to early winter, was least dense in mid-winter to early spring, experienced a minor peak in spring, and declined slightly in summer. Population turnover was 43% complete in six months and 95% complete in twelve months. Males and females that were caught more than once averaged 154 and 147 days on the study area, respectively